Samurai Weapons: Tools of the Warrior

by Don Cunningham

Weapons, particularly bladed ones such as swords, are enjoying a renaissance of interest from every source, from collectors to laypeople. The samurai, a glorified figure in Japan and the West, employed a variety of weapons, not least of which was the sword. Samurai Weapons details how and why their arsenal included not only the sword of popular lore, but also a variety of other tools, including concealed weapons, improvised fighting tools, fans, truncheons and pole arms.

The author succinctly describes the society of Japan, how and why the samurai class arose, and the place that samurai held in that society through the centuries, focusing in particular on the various weaponry, how these weapons were used and why. In addition, Samurai Weapons highlights the influence these weapons and fighting styles had on many different schools of Japanese martial arts.

Genres: Martial Arts, Nonfiction, History, Japan

208 pages, Hardcover

First published May 15, 2008

Reviews

[Elliott]

lots of nice pictures with historical and contemporary examples! analysis of where the weapons' names came from, how and why they were used (for restraint, because it was easy to conceal, tools for firemen, etc). I enjoyed the explanations of legends (Yoshitsune and Benkei, for examples) and the discussion about how some weapons are still used today, often by the police force but also even as a form of defense in schools (a response to a tragic event that occurred recently. there are a lot of interesting, tangential details about different eras, political history and social changes.

[Stephen Simpson]

Frustratingly mediocre.

While there are numerous quality pictures and historical examples, the text is largely boring (coming from a person who is quite interested in Japanese history/military history). What's more, while the book gives dozens of pages to war fans and jutte, it barely gives any attention to polearms (spears and naginata were important samurai weapons too) and none at all to bows.

Consequently, it's a strange combination of covered subjects. A better title might have been "Weapons Samurai Used When They Preferred To Not Slice-And-Dice".

[Michael]

All of these studies like, robots through history have been for school but this book is very descriptive of how each weapon was used I liked it a lot very useful when you want to know that kind of stuff.